For the first time since 1991, the Eritrean Independence Celebrations held in various communities in the United States were not attended by a senior PFDJ visiting official or a government-sponsored cultural troupe.  According to family members contacted by Gedab News, the reason is because the United States did not grant entry visas to the musicians and senior PFDJ officials.

The relationship between the United States and Eritrea, which was once seen as a model government by the Clinton administration, has continued to deteriorate ever since Eritrea arrested Ali Alamin and Kiflom Gebremichael, two US embassy employees, and the US State Department called for a fair trial.  In response, the Isaias Afwerki regime accused the Central Intelligence Agency and the US envoy to Eritrea-Ethiopia, Anthony Lake, of plotting to overthrow him in 2000.    Since then, the Isaias Afwerki regime has told The Atlantic magazine that improving its human rights record is conditional on the quality of its military relationship with the United States; periodically accused the United States of siding with Ethiopia in its border dispute with Eritrea; attacked the US State Department of  helping the Ethiopian government rig the May 2005 election to help the incumbent, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.

In his annual Independence Day address of May 24, President Isaias Afwerki devoted a great deal of his speech to his grievances against the United States. The US ambassador to Eritrea, Scott DeLisi took strong objection to this and registered his feelings to the Office of the President.

For months now, President Isaias Afwerki has relocated his presidential office from the capital, Asmara, to the port city of Massawa.  It is unclear whether this is to due to safety concerns or health considerations.  It is also unclear whether the new government proclamations limiting the movements of foreigners when traveling outside of the capital and requiring that they receive a permit from the Ministry of Tourism are related to security considerations.  

The United States, which is a witness to the Algiers Agreement that ended the Eritrea-Ethiopia border war of 1998-2000, has been attempting to break the stalemate at the insistence of the UN and the other witnesses (EU and Algeria.)  Two rounds of talks were held with the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission in London, UK but the logjam has not been broken and, at the insistence of the US, the size of the UN peacekeepers, UNMEE, has been reduced in size.  This has triggered further criticism from the Eritrean foreign ministry and with the US insisting that the size of the peacekeepers be cut back further, the relationship seems set to deteriorate even further.